MasterChef viewers are furious at the show for featuring a dish inspired by notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper, accusing the cooking series of “celebrating the murder and dismemberment of women”.
The semi-final of the 2024 season of the popular cooking competition aired on Thursday (16 May) with the aspiring chefs tasked with cooking up a “theatrical” dish for judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode.
There was no shortage of innovative ideas in the kitchen, as contestants set about cooking a duck to look like heart and lungs within a ribcage, to a bone marrow panna cotta resembling a “dog’s dinner”.
Viewers, however, took issue with one immersive dish that they felt took it too far.
Circus performer Chris made an impression with his “murder mystery” dish inspired by Jack the Ripper, which he served up alongside a fire-breathing performance completed in a black cloak.
Chris, 44, told the judges:”You are now detectives and you have to work out who I am by the clues inside the box.”
On the table was a box with the numbers 1888, which was used to open its padlock to reveal a glow-in-the-dark bone marrow beef tartare dish.
Wallace guessed Chris’s “identity” as Jack the Ripper after reading the clues: “Whitechapel, London, 1888” and seeing a tally of five.
Jack the Ripper killed at least five women in or near Whitechapel between August and November 1888: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine “Kate” Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.
Fans of the series were left unimpressed and offended at his choice of inspiration, which they criticised as “tasteless”.
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“Did that just happen? A man on #MasterChef just served beef tartare on a bone as part of a celebration of Jack the Ripper dish? Murdered women’s innards, so creative. What?” wrote one person on X/Twitter.
“Apparently it’s ‘really tasty food’ but there’s a guy on #Masterchef who has just done some kind of cabaret/meal event on the theme of Jack the Ripper (steak tartare) which is frankly pretty tasteless,” said another.
A third viewer added: “Celebrating Jack the Ripper? Have I misunderstood?” while someone else wrote simply: “Masterchef Jack the Ripper theme for a dish! WTF?”
“Can’t imagine the fact he served up steak tartare (in a bone) was coincidental. Just yeuch. Felt really inappropriate,” agreed one person.
“Can’t beat a lovely bit of nosh themed on a man who committed some of the most heinous acts of assault and murder of women in British history,” said another.
Others questioned how the idea got through the production team at the BBC, with one writing: “Er, did no one at Masterchef think that Jack the Ripper might not be a ‘fun’ theme for a meal?”
“How delightful to see celebrating the murder and dismemberment of women. #BadTaste in so many different forms. Worst episode I have ever seen. Who on earth at @BBCOne thought this was a good idea?” said another.
The Independent has contacted the BBC for comment.
Despite the online controversy surrounding his dish, Chris has gone through to the final of the competition, which is expected to air on Thursday 23 May.
Dr George, who presented an anatomy-inspired dish, was sent home after his heart of beetroot, duck breast resembling lungs, and parsnip crisp ribcage failed to impress.
Wallace called George’s anatomical dish “slightly alarming”.
One viewer wrote: “Gregg think the anatomical dish is ‘slightly alarming’ but not the one that celebrates *murder*?”
